Journal stop



May 12, 1964 F. G. FISHER ETAL 3,132,905

JOURNAL STOP Filed Feb. 6, 196s 2 sheets-sheet 1 v ATTORNEYS May 12 1954 F. G. FISHER ETAL 3,132,905

JOURNAL sToP Filed Feb. e, 1965 2 sheets-sheet 2 j X00 36 3@ C g l L/ I lllllllllllll TTORN EYS name* United States Patent O 'l'he present invention relates to journal stops for railway journal bearings.

A purpose of the invention is to provide a journal stop which will not damage the journal bear-ing, and which will particularly not cause deterioration of the bearing alloy.

A further purpose is to produce a journal stop which will be resistant to oil deterioration and which will provide better lubrication.

A further purpose is to make la journal stop which will be more resistant to shock particularly at low temperatures.

A further purpose is to provide a journal stop which can be replaced readily without tools and without disassembling the mechanism.

A further purpose is to provide a block of nylon or the like mounted replaceably in a journal stop housing.

A further purpose is to prevent impairment of lubrication of a journal stop by providing -a surface which is itself favorably lubricated and employing grooves in the direction :of rotation of the journal.

Further purposes appear in the speciiicat-ion Vand in the claims.

In the drawings -we have chosen -tc illustrate one only of the numerous embodiments in which the invention rnay appear, choosing the forms shown from the standpoint of convenience in illustration, vsatisfactory operation and clean demonstration of the principles involved. i

FIGURE 1 is a central plan section of 1a railway journal bearing employing journal stops of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical central sectionl of a railway journal bearing as shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGUR-E 3 is a liragmentary left end elevation of the railway journal bearing of FIGURES 1 and 2.`

FIGURE 4 is la face view of the journal stop of lthe invention, partly broken away to illustrate the latch.

FIGURE 5 is ya top plan section through the journal stop of the invention, the section being taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4. v

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary plan section through the journal stop of the invention on the line 6-'6 of =FIG URE 4.

FIGURE 7 is a vertical section -of the journal stop of the invention on the line 7-7 of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 8 is an exploded perspective of the journal stop of the invention, showing the operation for inserting a plastic block.

FIGURE 9 is a perspective showing the completion of insertion of a plastic block by latching the end wall in place.

FIGURES 10, 11 land l2 'are tragmentary end elevations of the plastic insert of the invention showing various thicknesses which will lbe used on different installations.

Describing in illustration and not in limitation yand referring to the drawings:

Up until about 1945 journal stops were not ordinarily used in American Railway Association journals. This gave rise to difficulties by movement of the 'axle laterally of the `axis of rotation. During braking, for example, the axle would in many cases move forward or backward (one axle forward and one backward). Also motion of the axle laterally with respect to the center of the journal box, was likely to take place due to slack, in connection with application of power or bralcing, due to switching 3,132,905 Patented May A12, 1964 ice or due to humping. Various forms of damage resulted, including striking and wearing the side of the journal box, or related parts of the journal box such `as the wedge, the bearing or the lubricator pads or by [destroying the dust guard.

Journal stops have been eilectively ladopted for restraining the 'axle against lateral motion -and :absorption and protection ,against the consequences of the shock.

Certain diiiiculties have been encountered in connection with journal stops of the prior art. In many cases prior art journal stops have been dithcult to install Iand have been :difficult to replace when Wear occurred. Some prior journal stops have been subject to deterioration in contact with oil.

There has also been in some cases diiiiculty because Y the journal stop tended to act .as a Wiper and remove oil from the axle when it moved longitudinally, thus making the :axle itself more subject to wear fand lack of lubrication.

Extensive use has been made of a journal stop produced from a copper base alloy such as brass. If this journal stop -wore or abraded small particles of copper or copper base alloy were ttor-med which entered the space between the taxle land the bearing, and 'were caused to penetrate the bearing metal. Some of the diiliculty due to emlbr-ittlement of bearing [alloys on railway journals have been attributed to penetration 'of these particles of copper base alloys into the bearing metal.

The present invention is designed to overcome or avoid these various dilculies.

T-he journal stop of the invention employs a housing in which fa block suitably of nylon is retained. 'Ihe nylon block can be removed -without raising the railway car off the tracks, and without disassembling the journal other than to open it, anda new nylon block can be substituted without the need to use tools.

journal.

'The journal stop of the invention is very resistant both to wear and impact in experiments conducted with it as it, has been found to be completely satisfactory from the standpoint of oil resistance.

After test surveys -for 55 thousand miles in a caboose and -for 50 thousand miles in la M.U. car, the nylon blocks in the journal stop have shown no evidence of wear, or damage from shock.

.The blocks have withstood hammering :at minus 40 F.

Present experience indicates that in freight cars or M.U. oar surveysvthe journal stop of the invention has a service life of about 1`0 years lwhich is equal to or `greater than the lite of a car fwheel under normal conditions.

Considering the `drawings in detail, we illustrate a journal box 20 which is intended to be a standard American Railway Association journal box or any suitable moditication thereof. The journal box has a space 2,1 which receives the journal 22 on the end of the axle, extending through a dust guard opening 23 which is provided with a dust guard slot 24 to receive arsuitable dust guard,'not shown.

The journal box has bearings 25 and is provided with an access opening 26 for inspection of the interior and replacement of oil. v

All this is intended to be conventional and is lnot important to the present invention except lfrom the standpoint of explanation of the environment in which the invention will be used.

Journal stops 27 of the invention are provided, located both front and back of the journal 22 and about the middle of the journal from the standpoint of axle length and from the standpoint of axle height. The axle can |move axially as required by travel of the car around curves.

A journal stop housing 28 is provided, suitably of sheet steel, and conveniently made by stamping or welding or both.

iThe journal stop housing has a preferably at back 3G, generally longitudinal top and bottom sides 3l, a suitably xed end 32, an open end 33, and also an open front 34.

The journal stop housing is suitably mounted as by welding with or without cutting. ln some journal boxes there is a waste retaining rib which will suitably be removed by the cutting torch as required and then suitable steel lugs or pillows 35 are secured by welding to the journal to provide a llat surface 36 to which the back of the journal stop housing can be secured by welding. j

It will of course be evident that in some cases the welder may prefer simply to build up the curved surface by weld deposited metal instead of using the lugs 35.

In any case the journal stop is positioned as shown best in PGURES l and 2 with its length running' parallel to the axis of the journal about the middle or axis level.

The top and bottom sides of the journal stop housing form dove-tails 37 which are wider remote from the journal and narrower toward the journal so as to co-operate with and retain dove-tail surfaces on the journal stop insert as later described.

Near the open end the journal stop housing is provided with top and bottom surfaces 33 which are horizontal and which readily co-operate with the endclosure.

Thus in effect the journal stop housing provides an open box to receive the journal stop insert.

The journal stop insert is a block of plastic preferably nylon'or linear polyamide 40. Any one of the block forms of nylon may be used for this purpose, giving the advantage of resistance to oil, wear and shock resistance and `favorable lubrication qualities. The nylon insert has top and bottom dove-tails iii which extend lengthwise but which engage insides of the dove-tails 37 of the journal stop housing. The insert also engages the inside of housing back 30.

The journal stop insert Iforms a suitably generally rectangular portion 42 which protrudes substantially from the journal stop housing toward the journal and has its greatest dimension in the direction of the axis.

At the working face 43 the journal stop insert is preferably at since the curvature of journals varies depending on service or if the journal has been resurfaced and also depending on the tolerance range.

The working face 43 is provided with lubrication grooves 44 which are effective to prevent the wiping action which would otherwise remove lubricant as the axle works back and forth longitudinally as the ear rounds curves. These grooves are an adequate depth and preferably extend at least 1A of the depth of the rectangular portion 42, say at `least 1%; inch. The Width of the groove is preferably at least 1&4 of an inch and they may be as wide as 1A of an inch.

The two ends of the insert at 45 are preferably straight.

The insert is simply slid into the journal stop housing at the open end of the yhousing by hand. It is provided with aligned top and bottom openings 46 in which the ends of tongs or pliers can be inserted if it is preferred to use some simple tool rather than the hand to place the journal stop insert.

Once the journal stop insert is in place, end wall 47 is inserted to hold the journal stop insert in place. This suitably has a vertical wall itl Iwhich engages the end of the insert and front and back walls 59 and 5x1 which dene the thickness of the end wall to conform with the depth of the journal stop housing. Cpen topf 52 and bottom end 53 lit inside the top and bottom surfaces 38 of the housing. Bottom end 53 has a Ihole 54 `for a pin. A pin 55 lhas xed to it a handle 56 protruding in the direction of the access opening 26. The pin has a lower small end which protrudes through pin opening, an upper small end in line therewith'which protrudes at the top, and a sliding guide portion 55 connected to the handle 56. In manipulating the pin the user can engage another iinger on a fixed handle 57 extending out from the end wall 53 and connected to a lug 53. v

The pin is urged toward extension above the end wall by a helical compression spring 6i) surrounding the pin and acting between the bottom and guide portion 55. The pin is limited by handle S6 secured to guide portion S5.

The latch engaging positions 33 of the housing are provided with slots or openings 6l which receive the aligned small ends of the pin 55 when the end wall is not itself in closed position.

ln order to insert the end wall it is rocked diagonally and the spring compressed by pulling the handles 56 and 57 toward one another and then the pin `which is somewhat smaller than the slots or opening 61 is inserted through the lower slot or opening, after which the end wall is rocked into the vertical position as shown in FIG- URE 9 and then the handles are released to permit the pin to move upward into the top slot or opening 61 and anchor the end Wall.

In order to remove the end wall the reverse operation is performed, and then nylon insertv can be removed and a new one put in place after which the end wall can be inserted.

It will be evident that this procedure can be carried on simply by reaching in the journal box from the access opening without it being necessary to remove the car from the track or otherwise to disassemble the journal box. n

It will be evident that when the journal stops and the car are not actively functioning, the axle rests between the two journal stops, preferably about l/g inch from each journal stop. In servicing an axle it is often necessary to turn down the journal portion and therefore axle journals' will have different sizes depending upon whether they'have been serviced and howoften they have been serviced.y It is desirable, however, that regardless of the exactdiameter of the journal, the distance between the journal stop and the axle in inactive position be the same, and therefore as the journal size reduces a thicker journal stop according to FIGURE' l2 or FIGURE 13 will be used, rather than a thinner journal stop as` in FIGURE 10.

In view of our invention and disclosure, variations and modications to meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to others skilled in the art, to obtain'all or part of the beneiits of our invention without copying the structure shown, and'we', therefore claim all such insofar as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope of our claims.

We claim: A

1. In combination, a railroad car journal. box having spaced vertical side walls, and having an axle journal entering said journal box and spaced from said side walls at bothsides, a journal centering stop housing in horizontal alignment with said axle journal on each side of said axle journal, each of said housings having a vertically extending back wall, an end wall, top and bottom walls forming generally horizontally extending guideways, an open face and an open front end, each of said housings having latch engaging recesses near the open frontend of said housing, and said guideways converging toward said open face, welds uniting said housings to said side walls, a journal centering guide in each of said housings having a face juxtaposed to the'axle journal, having a back surface engaging the vertical back wall of saidhousing, having top and bottom converging surfaces engaging said-converging guideways, having an end surface engaging said endwall of said housing and having a front end surface adjacent to said open front end of said housing, and a plurality of removable locking means corresponding to said housings and respectively engaging the front end surfaces of said journal centering guides, each of said locking means including pins removably engaged in said recesses of the corresponding said housing and spring means urging said pins into engagement, whereby each of said locking means can be wholly removed to expose the open front end of the corresponding said housing for withdrawal of said journal centering guide slidably in a direction longitudinal of said axle journal.

2. A device of claim 1, in combination with pillows interposed between said backs of said centering stop housings and said side Walls on the journal, said pillows being secured correspondingly to said backs and secured to the side walls by said welds.

685,974 Cote Nov. 5, 1901 1,689,044 Y Meyer Oct. 23, 1928 2,591,763 Abegg Apr. 8, 1952 2,822,575 Meyer Apr. 21, 1959 2,887,345 Johnson May 19, 1959 2,903,305 Sweger et a1 Sept. 8, 1959 3,027,203 Swegery Mar. 27, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 626,685 canada sept. 5, 1961 OTHER REFERENCES Product Engineering, July 1950, pages 102-107 relied upon. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A RAILROAD CAR JOURNAL BOX HAVING SPACED VERTICAL SIDE WALLS, AND HAVING AN AXLE JOURNAL ENTERING SAID JOURNAL BOX AND SPACED FROM SAID SIDE WALLS AT BOTH SIDES, A JOURNAL CENTERING STOP HOUSING IN HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT WITH SAID AXLE JOURNAL ON EACH SIDE OF SAID AXLE JOURNAL, EACH OF SAID HOUSINGS HAVING A VERTICALLY EXTENDING BACK WALL, AN END WALL, TOP AND BOTTOM WALLS FORMING GENERALLY HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING GUIDEWAYS, AN OPEN FACE AND AN OPEN FRONT END, EACH OF SAID HOUSINGS HAVING LATCH ENGAGING RECESSES NEAR THE OPEN FRONT END OF SAID HOUSING, AND SAID GUIDEWAYS CONVERGING TOWARD SAID OPEN FACE, WELDS UNITING SAID HOUSINGS TO SAID SIDE WALLS, A JOURNAL CENTERING GUIDE IN EACH OF SAID HOUSINGS HAVING A FACE JUXTAPOSED TO THE AXLE JOURNAL, HAVING A BACK SURFACE ENGAGING THE VERTICAL BACK WALL OF SAID HOUSING, HAVING TOP AND BOTTOM CONVERGING SURFACES ENGAGING SAID CONVERGING GUIDEWAYS, HAVING AN END SURFACE ENGAGING SAID END WALL OF SAID HOUSING AND HAVING A FRONT END SURFACE ADJACENT TO SAID OPEN FRONT END OF 